IAVA: 'We've got your back,' not 'Welcome, hero'

You've probably seen the non-profit ad campaign by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (see video below.) I just had the pleasure of spending an hour with three IAVA members who came out to Portland from the East Coast to talk to Oregon veterans about the issues that matter to them. (One of the three was Marine Todd Bowers, who's the guy extending his hand in the video below to say "Welcome home.")

We talked about a lot of things, from problems with employment, to access to the VA, to keeping the civilian world engaged with veterans' issues.
One of the things that I found fascinating was when our conversation touched on the terminology that surrounds returning veterans. We talked about how casually people refer to "heroes" when they talk about troops who serve, no matter if a soldier rescued a family of Afghan civilians or spent his entire deployment guarding a warehouse of bottled water.

You hear the word "Hero" at every turn, and, to my way of thinking, it's been cheapened by the frequency with which it's uttered.
I was interested to learn that, when the IAVA was testing its messaging with veterans, they got an overwhelming response: "Don't call us heroes."

Veterans themselves are uncomfortable with the casual designation, partly because they're remembering friends who didn't come home. Those people, they say, are the real heroes, sacrificing everything to support the mission and leaving loved ones behind. Everybody else who served simply did their best to carry out the mission while supporting their friends.

That's why the video below, and all the marketing materials put out by the IAVA, avoid the word "hero."
Instead, it's all about cameraderie: support and mutual appreciation.